IT was the morning after Celtic’s inglorious exit from Europe for another season and on their Twitter page Paddy Power – that part-time bookmaker, full-time mischief-maker - could not resist a dig. “Well, this is awkward…” ran the text above a newspaper headline from July 2014 in which Ronny Deila was harrumphing about Celtic being too good to have to play Champions League qualifiers. In typical PP style, the tweet concluded with a clip from the movie Dinner for Schmucks in which Zach Galifianakis’ character is trying desperately not to laugh, emitting instead a strangely hypnotic squeaking noise.

Paddy Power will take the mickey out of just about anyone these days but their tweet succinctly summed up just how the outside world sees Celtic in a European context these days. Three years on from beating Barcelona en route to a place in the last 16 of the Champions League, there has been undoubted year-on-year decline. In 2013 they again made the group stage of the Champions League but finished bottom of their section. In 2014, Deila’s first season in charge, they failed to qualify for the Champions League but progressed to the knock-out round of the Europa League. And now this season here they are, rock bottom of their Europa League group after five games without a win. To go in the space of just three years from conquering Messi, Xavi, Iniesta et al to losing both home and away to Molde does not look too clever at all, regardless of any mitigating factors.

The annual European post-mortem seems to be arriving earlier and earlier and this year it begun on Thursday evening in the immediate aftermath of the defeat to Ajax that confirmed Celtic would not remain in the Europa League beyond their final group game against Fenerbahce on December 10. There were the usual grumbles about Celtic’s inability to keep a clean sheet - something that has hindered them greatly throughout the campaign - moans about losing late goals, and the rather more divisive issue over whether Deila should be retained for the next bout of Champions League qualifiers in the summer.

And, then, from Craig Gordon, one of the more reflective members of the squad, there came a new subject for discussion: do Celtic need to be more streetwise in Europe? It was a fair point. Deila is an idealist and a dreamer. At 40 he is also a very young manager for this level of football. There is little cynicism about him. The idea that his players could be encouraged to time-waste, dive, harangue match officials, commit regular fouls to disrupt the opposition’s flow, or indulge in other dark arts would be anathema to him.

Not that he really has many players capable of such acts anyway. Perhaps only Scott Brown could be considered a savvy streetwise operator and the Celtic captain will now not kick a ball again for the next few months. Of the team that started against Ajax, nine were aged 25 or under. They still have a lot to learn and perhaps adapting better to the demands of European football – and being more pragmatic - is one of the more important lessons.

“We could go down that route,” admitted Gordon, the father figure of the side at 32 years old. “There are ways to stop teams playing but we are an attack-minded side. It’s about being clever at the right times, about having more experience and making fouls when we are caught a bit short.

“We are probably a little bit too nice. We let the opposition play and there probably isn’t enough aggression. We don’t give away a lot of fouls to break the play up. I think we need a bit more cynicism but there isn’t a lot of experience in the team and hopefully we can add that to our game.

"I think the manager is well aware of that side of the game. But we don't really we have too many players who have that in their game really within the squad. So it is asking players to do things that are maybe not their natural game. But at the same time they have to learn to do those kind of things as well.”

Gordon, naturally, was of the mind that Deila remains the right man to lead Celtic back into Europe next season. It may not be a popular view but the goalkeeper has seen enough from his young manager to believe he has benefitted from this series of chastening European experiences.

“We have not had a great campaign,” he added. “We have been close but not close enough. It is disappointing but certainly we are a good team and we have got to grind out the results better. The manager has been fantastic with me. I have absolutely no complaints about him whatsoever.

“He is a good manager. He is also a young manager and hopefully we bear that in mind, that he has come here and taken a massive step up. Overall I think he has done pretty well so far.”

Gordon has watched all manner of defensive calamities unfold in front of him in European games this season. The irony that Celtic were actually, for once, more robust at the back but still shipped another brace of goals was not lost on him.

“It is a young back four and at times against Ajax we actually dealt with the threat quite well. I wasn’t overly busy. We kept high lines, our shape was better and we won most of the first balls. Defensively, I didn’t think we were too bad.

“The two goals were bad ones but defensively I didn’t think we were under too much pressure. That’s why it was so annoying to lose two goals again.”

The failure in Europe has heightened the need for Celtic to conquer all domestically. Their first challenge takes place in Inverness today.

“It was a difficult Europa League group but it was one we still felt we had a chance to progress from and we have not done it. So it is up to us to respond the best way we can by winning games in domestic competitions.”